Cliff Bleszinski has publicly called out his former employer for trying to poach his current staff.

In a tweet spotted by Ars Technica, Bleszinski wrote: "Hey @epicgames, could you please stop trying to hire away my team? We just launched @Radical_Heights on UE4 and are really happy with how it's going."

After trawling through Bleszinski's Twitter feed, there appears to be no more details on how many Boss Key employees or which ones Epic might be attempting to entice.

There also seems to be no response from Epic to his accusations, but GamesIndustry.biz has contacted the Unreal Engine provider for comment.

The implication is Epic has been hiring staff to work on its own Battle Royale title, perhaps offering them security given the struggles Boss Key has endured over the past year.

Bleszinki followed his original accusation with: "There's room at this genre [sic] for more than a few games."

Replying to another Twitter user, he added: "We have plenty of ways to make [Battle Royale] our own but they may never see the light of day if [Epic] keep doing this."

UPDATE: Epic Games responded to GamesIndustry.biz, but have no statement to offer at this time. However, a member of the company's staff has publicly responded to Bleszinski's claims.

William McCarroll left Boss Key Productions last month to become a senior programmer at Epic Games. While he doesn't name the other Boss Key employees that also moved over, he does defend their decision.

"With all due respect, assuming that Epic is the one starting contact / poaching is a bit presumptuous," he wrote via Twitter.

"We all had our own reasons for making the choice to leave BKP for Epic and to act like we are commodities being stolen is a bit hurtful. We are people first and foremost."

At the time of writing, Bleszinski has yet to reply.

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